


Out to Lunch

by Foxberry



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Conversations, Cute, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, M/M, Study Date, Study Group
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-15 16:18:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12324513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxberry/pseuds/Foxberry
Summary: Confused and frustrated by Keith's lack of reactions to his flirting, Hunk finally asks if he should back off in the middle of one of their usual study dates.





	Out to Lunch

**Author's Note:**

> My contribution to the [Multiship Zine](https://twitter.com/multishipzine).
> 
> Since I hadn't written any Heith yet, I thought I should give it a shot!

****“...Should I just like… back off?” Hunk finally breaks the silence of their study room and immediately regrets beginning to speak at all. He’s already started so he might as well keep going. “‘Cause… you never seem to get upset when I flirt with you, but you never seem to respond either?”

Hunk can feel his heart racing in his chest. His hands start gesturing in the air like they’re begging for some kind of help, for anyone else to see him through the glass windows and come in to stop him saying something stupid. “And I’m really not sure what to do here, man?” There. He said it.

Keith blinks, eyes wide and silent. He turns his head away and then back. He can’t seem to do anything but stare at Hunk’s hands as his eyebrows furrow. “Wait… you were flirting with me?” Genuine confusion in Keith’s blunt tone hits Hunk square in the chest. Hunk thought he’d been painfully, embarrassingly obvious.

All Hunk can manage at first is a laugh. It wheezes from his lungs, heavily tinted with disbelief. “Uh… for… like a month now?” His hands fall to the textbook pages, unable to move any further. His body is a swirl of embarrassment and regret and frustration all at once. He doesn't need his hands making the situation worse than it already is.

Keith blinks again, eyelashes almost fluttering open and closed. His face flushes a soft shade of pink and his shoulders tense. His hands lift from the desk and pause in the air. “...oh” is the only thing he can manage to say, almost too quiet for Hunk to hear.

“You had no idea, did you?” Hunk can’t hide the embarrassment and disappointment in his voice. He’s spent so much of his efforts on giving into his desire to compliment his study partner, but not make it too weird that Keith wouldn’t want anything to do with him anymore. In the end, Keith didn’t even notice his flirting efforts.

There’s silence in the room again, broken only by Hunk’s nervous breaths and Keith’s seemingly overwhelmed ones. Even the sound of Keith swallowing was loud enough to hear before he answered, “N-no? I didn’t think you were… serious?” His face has begun to pinken, flushed from his cheeks to his ears.

Hunk blinks a few times and sits back in his chair. His pencil drops from his hand. “I’ve only said you’re attractive… forty three times. Forty four.” His shoulders shrug in time with his awkward smile. “I may have counted to space it all out.” He raises his hand to scratch at his neck, but ends up wringing the other over his textbook.

“What?” Keith asks, pressing his pencil hard against the page. It makes a mark, but he doesn't seem to be paying attention to anything but Hunk. His eyes are so gentle, open wide while he waits for his answer.

“You know, not be over the top about it. You can’t just say ‘Hey dude. You’re so hot I spend more time in our study sessions looking at you than at my work.’” Hunk freezes once the words are out of his mouth and it feels like all the air in him left with them. He can't believe he actually said that. The things Keith must be thinking!

Despite Hunk’s big mouth, Keith is still quiet, still shocked. He speaks slowly, blinking at their books in front of them. “You stare at me?” His eyebrows furrow together and he peers up at Hunk like they haven't just been studying in the library for two hours.

“Oh I said something weird. That’s really weird, isn’t it? Yeah, okay, uh, that’s a thing.” Hunk realises just how big his hands are when they circle in the air, trying to distract from the steep slope into further embarrassment he seems to be on. “Look, we don’t need to keep doing these study sessions. I know I’m just making it weird and trying to explain it is weird. God, I should really stop talking now, huh?”

Keith blinks and answers flatly, “I think that’s a good idea.” His face is hard to read or at least harder than normal. Hunk can't tell if he's put off or indifferent or actually cool about it. He certainly doesn't seem to like the idea of Hunk liking him.

“I… should back off, huh?” Hunk realises as his voice shakes that he can't keep looking into Keith's eyes, his beautiful perceptive eyes. He finds himself staring at his work again and shrugging his shoulders.

“No.” Keith's voice almost sounds as lost as it is sudden, thrown out into the air before he clears his throat in embarrassment. “I don’t mind it… I’ve just never thought that you would… I never thought about it.” He shrugs just like Hunk had and seems to shrink when he leans on the table.

Biting his lip, Hunk looks up again. His heart is beating. His eyes search with a sense of hope when he asks, “That I was really obviously flirting with you?”

“They were compliments? I thought you were just being nice.” Keith's face flushes with colour. He pauses, pressing his lips together before he licks them. He's just as nervous. “You’re _always_ nice.”

Hunk swallows and tries not to cringe at how loud he is. “I'm nice?” He knows he's nice. It's not the first he's heard it but Keith has never been one to outwardly say it, let alone directly to Hunk's face. Somehow it sounds so much sweeter in his voice and Hunk knows he has to hear it again.

“I don't know… people don't… they don't flirt with me.” Keith shrugs into his chair. Judging by the way he’s holding his shoulders, he looks like he wants to sink into it further. “I've never flirted… I've not flirted with you, have I?” His eyes shine in the sunlight streaming in through the library window, so curious, so unsure.

It’s the first time Hunk’s ever seen Keith like this and the sight of him looking so absurdly pretty in his innocence makes Hunk choke for a second. The idea of Keith flirting with him is almost too much. “If you flirted with me I'd know… I think I'd slip out of my chair to be honest with you.”

“Oh…” Keith laughs to himself, turning away and peering down at his chest with some thought on his mind. He’s not quite laughing at Hunk, but he’s not laughing at himself either. The smile on his face seems content.  
  
Hunk presses his lips together to hide his smile. He can’t help but be curious about what’s going on in Keith’s mind. “What?”

Keith can’t seem to look at him. Instead he peers over the books before him and keeps on smiling, imagining something that he can’t share. “Thinking that it’d be an amusing sight to see.”

Nervously laughing, Hunk takes his turn to look over the books, wondering how awkward they must look to any passing by their table. Yet part of him didn’t seem to mind the idea of someone seeing him making Keith blush and laugh. He rather likes that, and the idea of Keith even trying to do the same to him. “Yeah, it’d be something for sure. If that’d ever happen.”

“What do you mean?” Keith shuffles closer, eyes staring in that direct way they do whenever he wants to know something. It’s hard to avoid that gaze, and that look makes him even harder to deny. He probably doesn’t even know he does that.

“Oh, you know, you wouldn’t…” Hunk trails off and sneaks a look up at Keith’s face. He can’t imagine why a guy like Keith would ever flirt with a guy like him. Maybe he means amusing in some other kind of way and wants to see Hunk completely embarrassed just out of curiosity. “Nevermind. It’s nothing.”

Keith’s hand shifts on the table and then he’s leaning on it, cheek resting on his palm as he stares up at Hunk’s face. He’s pensive with a hint of a smile at the edge of his lips. “I thought it’d be cute.”  
  
“What?!” Hunk’s shoulders shrug, tension releasing when he sighs. His voice betrays his surprise. No one’s ever described him or something he did as cute. He’s overwhelmed to say the least.

Keith’s smile grows, softer and brighter, perhaps a little cheekier. “You, embarrassed, unable to keep yourself on a chair… because of something I said…” His eyes close like a happy cat, like he’s content to keep staring. His face darkens with a blush and stretches across his cheeks.

“I think I fell asleep. I must be asleep,” Hunk stares and mutters to himself. He pushes at the books on the table and wonders if he’s simply dreaming. Maybe he fell asleep in the middle of study again.

Keith’s hand falls on Hunk’s shoulder. With a gentle squeeze, he makes it clear that they’re both here, both conscious. “Why? You’re awake.” His chuckle breaks through any doubts that might have remained.

Hunk stares at Keith’s hand. It’s touching him, squeezing at his arm with affection. He can’t believe this. “You just said it’d be cute… to see me… embarrassed.”

Keith blinks, his smiling fading away. He’s still so calm, even if his face is pinker. “Yes… I did… and?” His voice is so flat, confident, sure of himself. The sound of it sends heat to Hunk’s face.

“Wh-why… cute?” Hunk asks, feeling his heart is beating out of his chest and maybe even has made it’s way up to his throat. He can’t quite breathe, but he manages to somehow keep himself from slipping off his chair completely. This can’t be real.

“I don’t understand why this isn’t clear,” Keith answers with the same tone he uses whenever they study when he doesn’t understand something, when he needs to clarify. “It’d be cute… because you’re… cute.”

Hunk shakes his head and laughs. “Okay, I am definitely sleeping and I am on the floor and a book fell on my head.” He wants to believe it, desperately wants to believe what’s coming out of Keith’s mouth, but it’s everything he’s wanted for so long it’s hard to believe it’s right there in front of him.

“I’m serious,” Keith bites back. His eyes narrow for a second, confused, while his hand slides down Hunk’s arm. He moves in closer, so much closer. His eyes follow when his hand slides down further and settles on Hunk’s hand.

“And you didn’t think I was flirting with you?!” He can’t stop his gaze from darting between his hand and Keith’s eyes.

Keith shrugs. “I thought you were being nice. I liked it... I like you.” His hand squeezes Hunk’s to emphasise his point. His skin is warm and calloused, his fingers brushing gently over Hunk’s bigger hand.

“I.. I’m… I don’t think I can… I can’t study… My brain is… I’m not…” Hunk’s words stop and start until he completely gives up. Keith’s finger appearing on his bottom lip ensures his silence.

“Shall we go get lunch?” Keith asks when he pulls his finger away, grinning like he’s just won a game Hunk didn’t know they were playing. Hunk wouldn’t mind seeing more of that look on his face.

Gulping, Hunk shakes himself from his daze, staring after Keith’s finger. “I need a break, yeah.” He nods and finally makes eye contact with Keith again. He seems to be breathing properly, even if he’s feeling giddy.

Keith takes Hunk’s hand into his, encasing it with his other hand as well. His voice is even softer when he continues, “No, I mean, together. A date.”

Hunk nods and feels his whole neck shaking. Maybe the rest of him is shaking too. He can’t believe what he’s just heard, but he’s got to say something. He says the whole words that come to his mind and still manage to trip across his tongue, “O-okay. Yup. D-date. Yup. Sounds good. Yup.”

Their study dates are going to mean a whole new thing from now on. Hunk knows that for sure.

**Author's Note:**

> Keith's always struck me as a guy that wouldn't be able to tell you were flirting while Hunk would try but would be too nice to be obvious about it or laugh in a way that people might think it's a joke. The two seemed like a perfectly adorable and awkward situation for these two ^^
> 
> All comments and kudos are very much appreciated. 
> 
> Come yell at me on Twitter [@particlebarrier](http://twitter.com/particlebarrier).


End file.
